Hidden Nature, Perpetual Prison

In Christ we have been born anew. "The old has passed, the new is here." This means we see things differently. Everything is now seen through the lenses of Jesus Christ. It is a total transformation. The temptation, though, is to live this new lifestyle in and amongst a world who still looks through foggy lenses.

I just finished reading C.S. Lewis' novel, The Horse and His Boy, from the Chronicles of Narnia series. In it there is a horse who will be given the name, Bree (for the noises him makes resembles the name he is given). Bree, like many of the other animals from Narnia, can speak human languages. But in the beginning of this book he is not in Narnia, and therefore in order to remain inconspicuous, he doesn't speak.

One day Shasta (the boy) walks up to Bree and says:

"I wish you could talk, old fellow."

Shasta, at first thinking he is dreaming, is blown away when he hears the horse say:

"But I can."

Bree had been kidnapped and taken to many strange lands where he was used as a battle horse. He says.

"All these years I have been a slave to humans, hiding my true nature and pretending to be dumb and witless like their horses."

"Why didn't you tell them who you were?" Shasta asked. 

"Not such a fool, that's why. If they'd once found out I could talk they would have made a show of me at fairs and guarded me more carefully than ever. My last chance of escape would have been gone."

For a horse to speak amongst people who think horses cannot speak will make the horse a spectacle (shout out to Mr. Ed); but the horse will be who he is, therefore he will be free. And a human who has been renewed and lives by kingdom of God principles (bless those who curse you; turn the other cheek; if compelled to go one mile, go two instead; overcome evil with good; et al.) will certainly be mocked and rejected, like Jesus was. But in the midst of the mocking and rejection they will be truly free.

Bree, while free to roam around, was restricted to being something he wasn't. Therefore he was a prisoner. Had he spoke he would've been imprisoned, and therefore set free to be who he was created to be.

Once Christ has set you free, live in the freedom of Christ; no matter what the world thinks.

In Christ,

God's Court Jester